Ethics on the trading block?

Ethics reform -- once proclaimed a high priority by the leaders of the Florida House and Senate -- appears now to be nothing more than a bargaining chip.

That's as good an explanation as any for a troubling series of events that occurred Tuesday in the Legislature.

If it's true -- if the standards by which lawmakers conduct the public's business are a commodity to be swapped for political favors -- then the legislators involved should be ashamed.

And the public should be outraged.

Judge for yourself from the events and comments reported in the Herald-Tribune and other Florida newspapers:

On Tuesday, the Senate Rules Committee removed language from its campaign-finance bill that would have increased the current $500 maximum contribution limit to $3,000 for legislative candidates and $5,000 for statewide candidates. The vote came a day after Gov. Rick Scott's office said he wouldn't support a bill that raised the contribution limit.

Those higher limits are included in a campaign finance bill already approved by the House. Speaker Will Weatherford has insisted on the increases in exchange for eliminating or reforming Committees of Continuous Existence, the political slush funds that enable lawmakers to solicit unlimited donations from special interests, with almost no limits on how the money is spent.

Sen. Jack Latvala, the Senate bill's sponsor, told reporters, "The governor has probably sapped the energy out of passing a campaign finance bill this session."

But Weatherford indicated he isn't giving up. He used his Twitter account to say, "Campaign finance dead? Session has only just begun. :)"

Ethics bill withdrawn

Just hours after the Senate committee's vote, Rep. Jim Boyd, R-Bradenton, chairman of the House Ethics and Elections Committee, withdrew the House ethics bill from the State Affairs committee, citing a need to study some recently filed amendments.

And speaker-designate Steve Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, expressed some skepticism about the bill's future. Crisafulli chairs the State Affairs committee, which is scheduled to meet next week for perhaps the final time that the bill could be heard there.

"If we can look over the bill and come to a consensus on the final bill language, then certainly we will bring it back up," he said. "And that's what we've got to do over the next several days."

Sen. Latvala, however, said the hold-up on the ethics bill was no coincidence.

"Unfortunately, the House is tying their campaign finance bill to our ethics bill, which we passed as our first order of business on the first day of session and it's been over there for 31 days," Latvala said.

"What I've been told is that they had to have campaign finance in order to do our ethics package."

So much for the high priority on ethics reforms touted by both Weatherford and Senate President Don Gaetz prior to the start of the legislative session.

Gaetz has largely kept his word. As Latvala pointed out, the Senate approved its ethics bill soon after the Legislature convened.

The Senate's bill (SB 2) would keep lawmakers from stepping from elective office right into the lobbying business. It would keep them from voting on bills in which they have a financial conflict of interest, and would require that they receive ethics training. It would also give the Florida Commission on Ethics more power to collect fines.

The case for higher contributions

The Senate bill could be better -- for one thing, it should give the ethics commission the authority to initiate its own investigations rather than wait for a citizen's complaint -- but it is a vast improvement over the status quo.

Further improving the ethics-reform legislation should be the focus of House leaders, rather than calculating how it can be leveraged for political advantage.

Weatherford and his colleagues have a legitimate case to make for higher campaign-contribution limits. The $500 limit hasn't been raised for years; candidates and special interests work their way around it by bundling numerous donations from interconnected sources. And few candidates have the personal resources of Gov. Scott, who spent more than $70 million of his family's money to win his election in 2010.

But that's a case that should be made to Scott and the Senate regarding the campaign-financing bill. It should not used to delay overdue ethics reform.

Record of corruption

The importance of reform is not in question. From 2000 to 2010, Florida led the nation in federal public-corruption convictions with 781 in both state and local government, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Among those indicted was former House Speaker Ray Sansom.

Last year, Weatherford cited the need for "meaningful" ethics reform. He is in a position to ensure that this vital need is met.